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US forces in Afghanistan dropped the military's biggest non-nuclear bomb on an Islamic State target in Afghanistan, reports the AP. Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump says it was the first-ever combat use of the bomb, formally called the GBU-43/Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb. Based on the acronym, it has been nicknamed the "Mother of All Bombs," with the equivalent of 11 tons of TNT. Stump says it was dropped on a cave complex used by ISIS fighters in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, close to the border with Pakistan.

The bomb weighs 21,000 pounds and was first detonated in a 2003 test, reports Fox News. When dropped, it detonates before reaching the ground, resulting in a huge blast radius.

It is not the nation's biggest conventional weapon, notes the Guardian. That would be the Massive Ordnance Penetrator GBU-57, a "bunker buster."

Back in 2007, the Guardian reported that Russia had detonated the "Father of All Bombs," said to be four times more powerful than the US weapon. The test took place at a military base. It's a "thermobaric bomb" with a yield of 44 tons of TNT, adds Business Insider.

Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of US Central Command, gave the green light for use of the bomb in Afghanistan, reports CNN. White House spokesman Sean Spicer did not answer questions about whether President Trump personally approved the mission. "I'm not going to get into the details right now," he said, deferring to the Pentagon.

NPR hits some of the logistics: "At more than 30 feet long, it's too big to fit inside the weapons bay of a standard Air Force bomber. Instead, troops load it into the cargo compartment of a specialized transport, the MC-130 Combat Talon, which releases it over the target by opening its ramp in the same way it might for paratroopers or air-dropped supplies."

the russians have a bigger one... so USA must get larger... So drop all the MOABs on the ISIS pigs and then come back with bigger ones and do it again.

Larry Williams

Apr 14, 2017 11:46 AM CDT

These bombs are not new idea's.During WWII Dr. Wallis designed a bomb called the "block buster" to destroy the the Eder and Moen dams in the Ruhr Valley in Germany. The Ruhr was their Pittsburgh for steel and war machine production. I think that they were 10,000 pound bombs that were designed to destroy earth filled dams causing earthquakes below the surface of the dam to flood the Ruhr Valley thus destroying Germany's war production of tanks and artillery. The Brits used Lancaster bombers to blow the hell out of the dams. It was successfully , although we lost One of the lead pilots top flak (Guy Gibson) he received the Victoria Cross their equivalent to our Medal of Honor. He received it postumely.